Grace, Grace to Your Rebuilding

Is there a rebuilding happening in your life? Then this is for you! Last year and going into this year, we saw devastation come to our cities, our countries and our lives. And now, I believe there is a rebuilding taking place and the grace of God over it. 

The Israelites too experienced a season of rebuilding back when they were released from exile. After being taking into exile by the Babylonians, 70 years later King Cyrus of the Persian empire granted their leaders permission to back to their land and to rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple that was destroyed. But the city was devastated, the temple in ruins. Can you imagine coming back to that type of destruction? And as the Lord anointed leaders to build His temple, He began to speak through His prophets encouragement to his people and leaders of what He was going to do.

To a prophet Zechariah, the Lord shows him a vision of two olive trees and a lamp stand. When asked what that means, the Lord declares “Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit.” Just like how those olive trees were able to supply a continuous source of oil to that burning lamp, the Lord was showing that He was the one sourcing the leaders, specifically Zerubbabel, the prince of Judah, the ability to rebuild this temple. 

Are you getting it yet? Are you receiving for yourself this encouragement? Because what God is rebuilding in you is something only He can accomplish. It is not by your own strength, not by your own power, but by the continuous supply of the Lord’s Spirit that will equip you in this rebuilding. We are never able to build anything great by even the best of our abilities. And even if we’ve tried times before to do it on our strength, this time, the Lord is teaching us to do it in His.

After the Lord shows Zechariah that vision of an olive tree, he then declares this:

What are you, O great mountain [of obstacles]? 
Before Zerubbabel [who will rebuild the temple] you will become a plain (insignificant)! 
And he will bring out the capstone [of the new temple] 
with loud shouts of “Grace, grace to it!”’
Zechariah 4:7 AMP

Yes, the Israelites faced many obstacles as they embarked on rebuilding their Temple. Enemies were after them, trying to stop and discourage them from rebuilding but the Lord had an answer to that—there was no mountain of obstacles big enough to stop Zerubbabel from from rebuilding, to stop the Lord from what He was doing. 

Even if there are obstacles you are encountering in this rebuilding (and to be honest, who isn’t?) the Lord wants to encourage you that no obstacle can stand in your way. That mountain of discouragement WILL be made a plain. Because what God is rebuilding in us will be accomplished from start to finish by His grace alone. 

And to finish it off, here is the best part of what the Lord told Zechariah: He declares that Zerubbabel would end up bring out the capstone, meaning the final and most important part. And as he laid it in place, the whole assembly of Israel will shout “grace grace” to it. Not one time, but twice as grace is declared over this rebuilding. From start to finish, grace is proclaimed. When words are mentioned twice in the bible, it often is used as a way to emphasize what is being said. This is no different as the emphasis of grace is added!

So I declare grace, grace over what the Lord is rebuilding in you. Because back then, the Israelites were rebuilding something of brick and stone. But now we are the Temple and He is rebuilding in us something greater than what He has ever built before. I believe just like another prophet declared that the future glory of that Temple will be greater than its past glory (Haggai 2:9), the future glory of what God is rebuilding in you will be greater than anything past.

None of us planned the harshness of this past season. None of us planned on our lives and businesses and cities and families to be torn down to rubble. But the Lord always had a plan to rebuild greater. So embrace this grace over your life. Embrace the “grace, grace” declared over this season. I promise you, soon there will be great shouts of celebration as that final stone is put into place and the rebuilding is declared finished and becomes something greater than ever imagined.